Free The Demon Horsemen by Tony Shillitoe

coinciding with his father’s death, had given him an initial advantage to overthrow his older brother, Prince Inheritor, his father’s proclaimed successor, but now the Ranu president and his ambassadors were looming as a threat to his own future. The Ranu empire extended over all of the known nations bordering the western ocean and news had recently been delivered to his court that the Ranu were invading the Kala nation to the south. How longbefore they turned their eyes to the Kerwyn kingdom? He had to prepare for the inevitable clash by finding effective methods to assert his kingdom’s superiority. The Seers’ latest invention was a possible key to the future.
    ‘We wait for the wind to turn,’ the Seer explained. ‘If it comes from the west it will give the airbird better lift.’
    ‘How can you be sure it will fly?’ Shadow asked, studying the metal and wood contraption standing on the grassy slope.
    ‘Jarudha will determine that,’ the Seer replied.
    ‘Seer Creator has a great deal of faith,’ said Word.
    ‘And a great deal of ingenuity,’ Shadow remarked.
    ‘This has been a long time in the making,’ Creator explained, his enthusiasm tempered marginally by his piety. ‘My mentors and predecessors did an enormous amount of work in this field. It is written that “In Paradise the sons of men will fly like birds and run like the wind”, so we have long sought to bring the prophecies into being.’
    Shadow strolled around the airbird, assessing its components. Long and thin, its red body was designed to carry a man lying flat on his stomach. It had a flat tail resembling the tail of a bird. ‘What are these wires connected to the tail?’ he asked.
    ‘A bird changes direction and stabilises itself with its tail. The wires are attached to the rider’s feet so he can adjust his position or turn like a bird,’ Creator explained.
    Similar wires ran from the body out to the broad wings, which were layered with cloth like bird’s feathers, and on either side of where the rider would lie was a brass and steel object with long curved blades. It reminded Shadow of the oars used in a boat. ‘And these are the drivers?’ he asked.
    ‘Yes, Your Highness, with the windwheels attached.’
    ‘Won’t they dig into the ground when they spin?’
    ‘They would, if we were to use them while the airbird is on the ground,’ said Creator. ‘But the windwheels do not spin until the airbird is aloft.’
    ‘And when it comes down again?’
    ‘The rider turns them off as he is about to land. They are balanced and keyed into place by the drivers so they are horizontal when not spinning.’
    ‘Clever,’ said Shadow, although he didn’t really understand the concept of the machine he was staring at. He appraised the ropes running from the frame to the four horses waiting patiently fifty paces down the slope. Creator said that the horses would provide sufficient speed to lift the airbird into the air, after which the rider would release the ropes by a lever and switch on the mechanical drivers. The drivers would carry the airbird after that. In Shadow’s opinion, only a Jarudhan fanatic could have enough faith to ride the airbird. He loved flying in his old airbird—what people now called dragon eggs, using the Ranu term—but he saw only madness in this new variation.
    ‘Your Highness,’ Word said, ‘please join us in the viewing pavilion. I feel the wind shifting.’
    Shadow acquiesced and, surrounded by his royal retinue of servants and guards, followed the blue-robed Seers to a blue pavilion set at the crest of the hill above the launching area. His attention was drawn to three figures in white standing to the pavilion’s left. ‘Who invited the Ranu?’ he asked.
    Seer Word glanced at the three men and said, ‘They invited themselves, Your Highness.’
    ‘I think it would be prudent if we did not share our secrets,’ Shadow suggested.
    ‘That is good advice, Your Highness,’ Word agreed, ‘but